The embodiments described herein relate generally to communication systems and, more particularly, to social network communication systems that facilitate identifying non-terrorists within a group of system participants and non-participants.
The Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States have focused attention on the need to harness technologies for use in homeland security and counter-terrorism purposes. Accordingly, many new systems have been proposed. Some of these systems involve surveillance, information gathering, and/or monitoring health data. Such systems are provided by both private entities and by the government. However, many members of the public continue to have a desire to assist in counter-terrorism measures in ways that do not involve developing new products or undergoing intrusive searches and/or background checks. Although, the public has a desire for safety, many members of the public do not wish to exchange safety for a lack of privacy.
At least some known systems attempt to identify individuals using features such as facial recognition, fingerprint analysis, and/or other biometric information. For example, at least some known systems an image of a person's face is enrolled in a computer system. At certain times, such as at an airport check-in terminal, stored images are compared to an image obtained using a live camera. Individuals, such as known or suspected terrorists or criminals, are identified by matching the live camera image to the stored images, thereby enabling authorities to detain such individuals prior to boarding a means of transportation. However, such systems do not attempt to identify individuals as non-terrorists at an earlier point using social networking, in order to narrow a search for potential terrorists at a later time.
Moreover, at least some known systems provide terrorism intelligence indications and warnings based on a number of forecasting questions and priorities. More specifically, at least some known systems describe systematic data processing methods for known intelligence data in order to facilitate better and faster analysis of constantly-growing amounts of data. However, such systems rely on analyzing known data rather than identifying terrorists among a large group of system participants. Furthermore, at least some known systems attempt to identify terrorists and locate known terrorists using a dormant software-based worm that monitors incoming connections to a communications server. The worm is transmitted by the server over the connection, and broadcasts identification and/or location information to one or more receiving nodes. However, such systems effectively monitor people without permission and possibly without cause, thereby risking privacy violations.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method for identifying non-terrorists among a plurality of voluntary participants or non-participants using a communication system that is governed by a non-governmental board of governors from consumer advocate organizations and privacy organizations. Moreover, it is desirable to provide this communication system such that privacy of each participant is ensured as much as possible.